The Weekly Blog

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama presented the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation to 20 honorees, including alumni Frances Arnold ’79, Sidney Drell ’47, and Barry Mazur *59, as well as Anne Treisman, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology Emeritus.

Arnold, who received the technology and innovation medal, is a professor of chemical engineering at Caltech. A leader in protein engineering, her work uses “methods of laboratory evolution to generate novel and useful enzymes and organisms for applications in medicine and in alternative energy,” according to her lab website.

Drell, a science medal recipient, is a professor and deputy director, emeritus, at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He made significant contributions to particle physics and quantum theory, and in the last 15 years, he’s been a leading voice on nuclear nonproliferation issues, working at the Hoover Institution.

Mazur, a mathematician at Harvard, also received the science medal. According to The Boston Globe, his love of math blossomed from a childhood quest to “better understand the link between his radio station’s transmitter and the home radio receiver.” For the last 50 years, Mazur has used his problem-solving skills to explore number theory.

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